


Dazzle

by HomuraBakura



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V
Genre: Canon Divergence, F/M, Poor Yuya, grace is implied yandere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 18:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7280047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomuraBakura/pseuds/HomuraBakura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He is dazzling.  It intrigues her more than it should.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dazzle

_Dazzling_.

It was the only word that she could use to describe it. To describe _him_.

He had been so small and unassuming—barely more than a mouse to her, the lioness. Just something for her to crush again. Just another insect squashed beneath her and her sister's boots while they moved onto the next lack of a challenge, the next game, the next brief spot of excitement in the draping shadows of ordinary boredom and irritation.

But then had come the _sparkles_. The pizzazz. She had never seen anything like it before.

Grace felt her legs wobbling underneath her, her lips hanging open in spite of herself. He was a silhouette against the glittering background of his starry stage, illuminated in a glowing outline that accented his eyes. Bright eyes, crimson like blood—no, more like apples, something much softer, less cruel. Eyes like nothing she had ever seen before. Full of confidence, excitement, an innocent sort of pride in himself.

 _Dazzling_. The word came to her mind again as the final blow came in an explosion of glitter.

She couldn't help herself. The laugh rolled out of her stomach, up her throat, and unfurled into the air, a release, like a ribbon snapping free of its coil into the wind. It felt _glorious_. A laugh like nothing she had ever felt before.

Across the battlefield—no, the stage—he smiled. A wide, beautiful smile, free and unfettered—just pure joy and satisfaction, an expression she had never thought she would ever see on opponent's face. Why would she have ever thought that this would be how a battle would end? In sparkles and laughter and the mouse she was supposed to crush smiling at her with the abandon of a pure, innocent child.

Her laugh would not stop.

 _He is dazzling_ , she thought, almost dizzy, as she watched the glitter in the air fade with the field, and yet he still seemed to glow.

She was so dizzy with laughter and shock and the _fullness_ of what had just happened, the odd joy that surged through her, that she simply had to sag to the ground, as though all of her energy had been used up all at once. By the time she blinked out of her dizzy spell, he was gone.

There was almost a space in the air where he had been. A glowing afterimage, a sparkle.

A vicious, gnawing sensation gripped her heart.

 _I need it_ , she thought suddenly. _I need more. I need more of that sparkle._

She staggered to her feet, Gloria still groaning as she shifted back onto her hands.

“What the fuck was that?” she muttered.

Grace could only wrap her arms around herself, willing the boy's afterimage to stay where it was, the last mark of his presence.

“Yuya,” she whispered, the name vibrating pleasantly on her tongue. “ _Yuya..._ ”

Gloria's head rolled back and she glared up at her sister. Her mouth opened once. Her eyes flickered to try and see what Grace was looking at, and then back up.

“Oh, hell,” she said between her teeth. “Grace. No.”

Grace blinked once. She shook her head briefly, silver hair glittering around her.

“Grace,” she said absently, “yes.”

Gloria actually moaned with irritation. She leaned forward, putting her head between her knees as though she were about to swoon from exhaustion—or more likely, exasperation.

“Fuck it. Fine. Go find him, but I'm _not_ helping this time. You'll probably get bored of him in five minutes like usual and just card him anyway.”

“Mmm, he'd be a cute card,” Grace said. But would, he though? She doubted he'd sparkle so nicely if he was carded. “I'll be back~”

Her hair swung behind her, a comfortable tap, tap, tap of the locks against her back as she sauntered up the wreckage. She stepped lightly in her heeled boots, searching for purchase. A tune hummed almost involuntarily under her breath. Now, where had the mice run off to? They couldn't have gotten far.

_Vrrmmmm...._

Her ears perked up at the faint sound of a Solid Vision field activating. A faint shout that she couldn't make out the words to. Excitement roiled up in her chest like a cat shredding claws against a new scratching post, and she hopped lightly down from the pile of debris to hurry down through the ruined streets. Her heart thudded in her ears and she could almost taste the acrid excitement in the back of her throat. How long had it been since she had been this excited? Far too long—far too long indeed. She needed to capture that feeling. As literally as possible.

The world rocked for a moment and her ears stung with the sound of an explosion. Someone screamed, and the sound cut off halfway through. Her pulse thudded loudly as for a moment, her stomach tightened—gods damn it, if he had been hurt, she swore—

“ _No, go, get him out of here, I'll handle this!”_

That voice—Yuya. Her momentary spike of rage quieted. It was definitely him, that soft arching tone that hovered just on the very brink of maturity, ready to roll down into a lower register at any moment. The overtones of self-assurance and sparkle that made her spine quiver with delight. Close—very close now.

She rounded the corner at almost a run. Her steps caught and slowed, eyes flickering quickly around to assess.

Yuya stood alone, back almost to the wall of a ruined building. He had the tight, wary look of a cornered animal, eyes flickering between all three opponents. At his side, a newly created ramp of landslide debris still settled, and he chanced a wary glance at that as well. Three Obelisk Force soldiers, all with one fusion scrap dog each already—when had they gotten here? Grace pushed down the brief irritation at seeing that she and her sister had not been deemed enough for the Lancers. After all, in the end it had been true. They had been defeated.

Besides, she thought with a widening of her eyes and smile. This was her chance to see Yuya _shine_ again. What would he show her this time? What kind of show would he provide? Would the Obelisk Force understand just how _dazzling_ he was, or would they be the same sticks-in-the-mud as usual?

“My turn, I'll draw!” Yuya shouted, drawing his card.

He glanced it over, and immediately, that spark danced over his eyes, a smile widening his face. Grace's heart leaped. _Ahhh._ That was what she was looking for—that _sparkle_.

“I activate the magic card, Smile World!” Yuya said, his face taking on the same bright cast as it had when he had faced her.

Immediately, the field was flooded with the glowing, smiling faces, floating in the air like little clouds of joy. Grace couldn't help but let out an excited giggle. Here it was again, it was coming, that amazing show that had captivated her so much.

“I'll—”

“Trap card, open!” an Obelisk Force member shouted. “Ancient Decree—I negate the activation of your spell card and deal six hundred points of damage!”

The glow on Yuya's face dissipated. Smile World evaporated like steam and his red eyes flashed around with shock. He barely had time to react before the glowing blast from the card's effect crashed towards him. He tried to stumble back out of the way of the Solid Vision attack. His eyes bulged as his foot caught against a stone and he fell, head striking back against the wall. The blow hit the wall of debris just over his head—he cried out and threw his hands over his head, trying to block the falling stones from hitting him.

Grace felt something very cold grab her heart. A sort of angry numbness, ready to shatter.

When the dust cleared, Yuya lay awkwardly on his side at the base of the wall, gasping for breath. He coughed out clouds of dust. With a groan, he tried to push himself up—and then his eyes flew open with panic. Grace realized why in a heartbeat. The debris had fallen down on his leg, and another pinned his arm to the ground, his duel disk uselessly trapped beneath the stone. He tugged uselessly at the stones—he wasn't going to be able to get free.

The tallest of the Obelisk Force smiled with a twisted grin.

“I'll activate my trap next—Ancient Howl! When my opponent takes effect damage, I can take the same amount of damage and skip my next battle phase in order to deal damage equal to the total attack points of all Antique Gear monsters on the field!”

Yuya's eyes snapped up from where he was trying to shift the rock off of his arm. His face was bone white—there were three Antique Gear fusions on the other side of the field.

Grace felt that cold, slithery thing starting to wind it's way down her spine and twist between her ribs. Her vision was narrowing with a thrumming, blackening _rage_.

“This is it for you! Go, Ancient—”

“I activate my quick spell,” Grace said, flashing forward, her hair a storm of quicksilver around her. “Oracle of Amazon. I discard one card in order to activate a trap from my graveyard.”

“ _Intrusion Penalty—minus 2000 life points.”_

The electricity danced over her arms but she didn't even feel it. She saw four pairs of eyes snap to her, felt the world drop several degrees as all four people registered her existence and all four realized what she was doing.

“Grace Tyler—” one Obelisk Force member started but Grace was already moving to activate the trap she just discarded.

“Amazoness Mirror Pool—by halving my life points, I negate effect damage, and then send it back to you,” she said.

She leveled her eyes at the three Obelisk Force members. She smiled.

All three of them flinched as though they had just seen the devil himself. Or herself, really.

It was their own fault—she hoped they knew that. How on earth was Yuya supposed to show his shine if they were going to play so dirty?

“I think that's enough effect damage to handle all three of you, don't you?”

Their screams were quite satisfying as the world briefly exploded with reflected damage.

Once the light had faded and her eyes had readjusted, the three unfortunate souls lay on the ground, draped over debris like rag dolls. Yuya was still trapped on the other side of the field, eyes wide and mouth hanging open. At least he was certain to stay put this time...she liked knowing where to find him. He looked more adorable than she might have imagined with that confused look on his face.

Grace smiled down at the fallen Obelisk members.

“You lost,” she said. “So I think you know what happens now.”

They weren't even conscious enough to beg for their lives—what a pity. Yuya's head snapped up, though, lips parting.

“N-no, please—” he started.

It was too late. She had already pressed her fingers to the button, and there was only the briefest, strangled cry from Yuya's throat as all three Obelisks disappeared in a flurry of purple light. She smiled again, feeling a warm satisfaction at a job quite well done.

Yuya's mouth opened, but no sounds came out. He could only sit there, frozen, words trapped in his throat.

She simply nudged the fallen card with one foot, half considering ripping it in half just for the sound of the tearing paper.

“You didn't even give him a moment to shine,” she said, shaking her head. “What a _waste_.”

He managed one sound.

“Um,” was all he could get out.

She smiled as she looked up from her kills. He just sat there, still trapped and staring at her, his mouth hanging open, face white. Uncertainty shining at the back of his eyes. Emotions battling for dominance back and forth across his face—nervousness, fear, revulsion, panic, anger, and simple confusion. What a delightful collection of expressions. She wandered closer to him, picking her way over the debris. He actually flinched back a bit as she drew closer—how cute.

He swallowed through a thick throat.

“Why did you—” he started, but she only leaned down to place one finger against his lips.

“Hush,” she said. She had to grin at the light blush that blossomed over his cheeks at the touch. “Just be sure to show me something _dazzling_ next time, darling.”

 


End file.
